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Izumi Curtis
Izumi Curtis (イズミ・カーティス)is a master alchemist, skilled martial artist and eventual Firelord. Unlike most of her family, she did not possess Firebending Abilities. This caused her to leave and travel the world. She learned the art of Alchemy, which could recreate some of the traits of Earth Bending and Water Bending, including MetalBending. Though she usually doesn't take on students, she accepted Edward and Alphonse Elric's plea to taking them on as her apprentices and instructed them in both alchemical theory and martial arts for six months. Eventually, Izumi grew to love them as deeply as she would her own children, becoming a long-term source of guidance and support for the Elrics' future endeavor. She would eventually return to Japan to succeed Zuko as Firelord. History Izumi was born in Japan under the Fire Nation and Firelord Zuko. She lacked Fire Bending and was ostracized by Fire Benders outside her own family. Tenzin attempted to push Izumi towards Bumi,Aang's son who also did not possess Bending. the two however could not stand each other. Izumi chose to travel. At the age of 18 years old, she ventured outside the country. Learning about the practice of Alchemy, and that she was one of the few that could learn and perform it, she entered in Germany to formally learn alchemy as an apprentice to the famed alchemist, Silver Steiner. There, Izumi was told that she wouldn't be accepted as Steiner's apprentice unless she survived for one month alone on the fearsome Briggs mountain range with nothing but a machete. Izumi braved the elements, nearly dying several times from the extreme cold, wild animal attacks, and assaults from Briggs Mountain Patrol. They even assumed that she was a Drachma-Russian Spy because she stole food from the Briggs. In her time there, Izumi would eventually come to forge her own theoretical belief of "One is All, All is One", an alchemical concept of the Universe. Though was captured, the rumor of a mysterious "mountain woman" raiding Fort Briggs would continue to circulate in the region for nearly twenty years. After the month was up, Izumi ventured back into town and declared to Steiner that she was now fit to be his alchemy apprentice. However, the shocked man learned of his misunderstanding and told her that he was Gold Steiner—the older brother of Silver Steiner, who had died several years before— and that he was known for hand-to-hand combat instead of alchemy. In great fury, Izumi assaulted him and knocked him unconscious, setting out to continue her alchemy training on her own. It may be inferred from this that she is a self-taught, yet extremely skilled and knowledgeable, alchemist. One day, Izumi bumped into a young Sig Curtis while dropping a bear she was carrying, which he picked up. According, to the two, it was love at first sight. Eventually, the two became closer, got married and moved to the southern town of Dublith. Once settled down there, Izumi finally got pregnant with Sig's child after numerous attempts, though the pregnancy was a very difficult one as she was constantly ill. Tragically, their child died during childbirth, rendering her deeply depressed and desperate enough to try to revive her stillborn child through Human Transmutation. Due to the teachings of the Truth though, the "toll" Izumi was required to pay for opening the Gate resulted in some of her internal organs being removed, rendering her to be both constantly ill and completely incapable of ever becoming pregnant again. On a trip through the Eastern region of Amestris several years later, Izumi and Sig stopped in the small town of Resembool where torrential rains had caused the river to overflow and threaten to flood the village. She decided to intervene on behalf of the frantic villagers, thus transmuting a large earthen dam to corralling the overflow with ease. Grateful for her help, the people of Resembool town offered the couple a place to rest when her illness began acting up. While there, Izumi was approached by two small boys named Edward and Alphonse Elric, who asked to be taken on as her alchemy apprentices. Though refusing first, she acquiesced a bit upon learning that the two boys were orphaned, thus instead offering a trial period in which to prove their worth as apprentices before making her final decision. With the boys in tow, Izumi and Sig returned to Dublith and made arrangements for their test. She took the Elric brothers to Yock Island, gave them a large knife and informed them that they were to survive on the island alone for one month without the use of alchemy, all the while trying to decipher the meaning to her creed "All is One, One is All". Secretly leaving Sig's assistant, Mason, on the island to both watch over the boys' safety and make sure they honed their physical combat skills, Izumi departed for Dublith without them. When she returned in a month, Izumi was pleasantly surprised to find the boys not only in great shape, but having properly understood her alchemical creed. Fulfilling her promise, Izumi accepted them into her tutelage, instructing them in both alchemy and martial arts for six months before deeming them knowledgeable enough to return home and continue practicing on their own. Meeting the Master Edward and Alphonse made a long overdue visit to her home in Dublith to ask her what she knew about the Philosopher's Stone. After reprimanding the boys for becoming lapdogs of the State Military and letting their training slacken, she explained that the Stone never interested her and therefore did not become a focus of her study, but also stated that she had met an alchemist in Central City recently who had known a great deal about it—an alchemist by the name of Van Hohenheim. When Alphonse revealed that Hohenheim was the boys' long-lost father, Izumi perceived it as a great chance for them in more ways than one, but Edward angrily refused to accept help from Hohenheim, the subject was dropped save for Izumi's addition that Hohenheim had mentioned something about his lifelong dream soon coming true. The boys stayed for supper and regaled Izumi, Sig, and Mason with tales of their travels—including their experience in Rush Valley helping to deliver a baby, which Izumi said softly was a good experience to have. But when Ed and Al showed off their improved transmutation skills, Izumi was shocked to see Edward perform alchemy without a circle. She demanded immediately to know by what means Edward saw the Gate of Truth, revealing to the boys her own experience with Human Transmutation and that she had known all along merely by observing them that their bodies had been mysteriously maimed. After they explained how they used her instruction in an attempt to resurrect their dead mother which rebounded, taking Ed's left leg and right arm, as well as Alphonse's body as toll, and then joined forces with the State Military so as to receive access to restricted alchemical documents which may someday lead to their own restoration. After comforting them and lamenting that they made the same mistake that she did, Izumi expelled them both from her tutelage for directly disobeying her prohibition of Human Transmutation. Of course, the expulsion rendered the Elric brothers her colleagues rather than students, opening a new relationship for the three alchemists. Realizing this, the boys consulted Izumi openly about ways to restore their bodies and she posited that Alphonse may have learned a great deal more from his sojourn into the Gate than either Edward or herself because Al gave his entire physical form as a toll rather than just a body part. But when Alphonse revealed that he has absolutely no recollection of seeing the Gate or the Truth, Izumi suggested that trauma-induced amnesia may be to blame and consulted a doctor acquaintance while the boys make themselves at home in the Curtis household. Soon afterward, Edward departed suddenly and temporarily to renew his State Alchemist license while Alphonse remained in Dublith to help around the shop. But when Al mysteriously vanished, Izumi, Sig, and Mason investigated around town to find the armor boy's whereabouts, only to learn that he had been kidnapped and taken to a shady nearby bar called the Devil's Nest, where a new local gang has been holding court. Izumi stormed the gang's basement stronghold, deftly trouncing just about all of the members (and scolding Al for letting his guard down so easily) before coming across the gang's boss—a stylish man by the name of Greed. However, when she attacked Greed, she discovers—at the cost of her finger bones—that his body was rather strange, covering itself with a thin coating of nigh unbreakable armor when attacked. Alphonse explains that Greed was a Homunculus—much to Izumi's incredulity—and that the man wants to make a deal with the Elrics to help them fashion a body in exchange for information about Al's Soul Binding. He urged Izumi to forgo her urge to fight and bring Ed to the Devil's Nest for negotiations upon his return. Izumi left reluctantly, threatening to personally annihilate Greed and his men if Alphonse was harmed in any way. Ed arrived soon afterward and Izumi delivered Al and Greed's message, staying behind while Ed went alone to "negotiate". That night, when the Elrics return from battling Greed and his men with the help of a Southern military platoon led by Major Armstrong and the Führer, King Bradley himself, Bradley complimented Izumi's skills as an alchemist and teacher and offered her a place in the State Alchemist program, which she politely refused. He departed, leaving the offer on the table and causing Izumi to wonder concernedly why the Commander-in-Chief would come to personally deal with such a trivial matter. Requiring automail repairs in Rush Valley and further information in Central City, Ed, and Al left Dublith the next morning. The Truth of Human Transmutation Izumi later received a call from Edward, who spoke to her, at first vaguely regarding how what he was about to ask will hurt her, and if she didn't want to answer, she could hang up the phone, and even sever their teacher-student relationship (though Edward corrected himself in saying that she already did that before). When Izumi told him to just say it, Edward asked if she remembered about her failed attempt to transmute her child, which she said that she did and that she wouldn't ever forget it, recalling the event. When she asked what this was about, Edward revealed to her how their 'mom' that Edward and Alphonse had transmuted was not truly their mother. Confused by this, Izumi questioned him further, to which Edward finally asked if the child that Izumi transmuted truly her own child. At first she didn't seem to understand, but in an instant after, she understood Edward's meaning, and hung up the phone immediately. Izumi later called the hotel that Edward was staying in, having called Pinako earlier to get the number. When Edward answered her after being called by him earlier, Izumi explained that she researched her own and her husband's lineage, and further explained that when she transmuted her child, she had used her blood, her husband's hair, and her deceased child's bones. Izumi then states that the transmuted child had skin and hair color that was impossible for her or her husband, thus confirming further what Edward had been wanting to know. When she stated that Edward found something out, Edward answered that he confirmed that a dead person could never be returned no matter what, which made Izumi understand that Alphonse was alive somewhere, which meant that he could be restored. Accepting that her 'perfect' theory was also a failure, as she had still believed that she had just been missing something for the transmutation back then, Izumi somewhat humorously stated that she as the master lost face to her student for that. When Edward attempted to apologize, she declined it, saying that it was a punishment for stepping into a territory she shouldn't have been in. After that, she thanked Edward before hanging up the phone, confusing the former student. Just as Alphonse was thankful to Edward to find out that they weren't forced to kill their mother a second time, Izumi was overcome with relief that she hadn't put her child through so much suffering a second time, crying from having been saved from the guilt that had been weighing on her all this time, once again recalling how the child she transmuted had died, and how she received the punishment that she deserved. She also mentioned the irony behind the punishment she received along with Edward and Alphonse's, stating that the Truth was cruel, but just. When Curtis said that Edward stood up again, despite having lost the leg he stood on, Izumi believed that Edward might defeat even the Truth one day, The Human Philosopher's Stone Izumi and Sig were on a train and once again encountered her students' father, Van Hohenheim. After leaving the train, they talked about Hohenheim's sons and what they had been doing when Izumi's internal injuries caused her to cough up blood. Concerned, Hohenheim then proceeded to reach inside Izumi's body, rearranging her organs. Thinking that he stabbed Izumi, Sig furiously punched Hohenheim, knocking him a few meters. Asking his wife if she was alright, Izumi maintained that she is fine, and that she can actually breathe better. Finding out that the wound where Hohenheim stabbed her was gone, he stated that he cannot bring back her organs because Truth took them, but he did manage to rearrange her damaged internal cavity in the most favorable arrangement possible. Izumi then fearfully asked Hohenheim what he was, to which he replied he's just a person named Van Hohenheim - the Human Philosopher's Stone. After this, Hohenheim presumably informed them both of everything that had been happening in the country, including the Promised Day as well as the Nationwide Transmutation Circle, and the Curtises head north. Once there, Izumi intentionally let herself be captured by northern troops to inform a "trusted Ishvalan man" and a "large man with a Mohawk" of the Promised Day. This message ran through a trusted network of informants all across the country to reach Roy Mustang himself. The Promised Day and The Fourth Human Sacrifice Trusting the Briggs Troops for the coming events, Izumi and Sig were taken by them to the Armstrong mansion, where they were to hide under orders of Olivier Mira Armstrong until Mustang's uprising in Central City. When the Promised Day arrived, and the battle began, Izumi along with Briggs' forces stormed through the city wreaking havoc. Arriving at Central Command, she encountered the Armstrong siblings, who have been struggling in their battle against Sloth. Along with Sig, Alex and Olivier, the four faced off against the Homunculus, who is eventually impaled and killed. Soon after this, Izumi is spontaneously teleported away from her husband and allies to an underground lair - a move on Father's part to gather the five Human Sacrifices (humans who have survived opening The Gate) for his final task. Reunited with Edward, Alphonse, Hohenheim, and a newly-captured Mustang, the five humans were forced into once again opening The Gate of Truth under Father's behest. After the massive transmutation, the Homunculus returned in a body which "harnesses the power of God", and Izumi (along with the remaining rest) unleashed their combined efforts in taking him down. She was seen transmuting alchemic spikes to shoot and even collapsing a full column on him, both to little avail. Eventually, Father was forced to retreat, and Izumi was quick to follow. She watched in horror as Father created humans from the souls of the long dead Xerxesians, becoming sick at the sight of a baby crawling towards her. She was caught in the blast unleashed afterwards. She survived the blast thanks to Hohenheim shielding her and Edward from the bulk of it. She then helped deplete Father's Philosopher's Stone with an onslaught of attacks, and watched as Edward finished him at the end. She and Sig greeted Alphonse after he got his body back from The Gate soon afterward. As Firelord Azula returned to the Fire Nation, upon the resignation of Firelord Zuko and would hold the position from 1917-1926, ruling during the war with Kuvira. Before her death caused by returning Health Problems. She was succeeded by her adopted son Iroh II, allegedly a Humunculi. Category:Composite Characters